Split-Image History
by Mysterious Voice Guy
Summary: Based on one of the multiple endings of the game: Crono and friends destroyed Lavos,... leaving Magus to figure out his future after being sent back in time to Zeal kingdom.
1. Default Chapter

If history is to change, let it change.

If the world is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed.

… If it is my fate to be destroyed…

I must simply laugh!!

I'm coming, Lavos.

A boy from the year 1000 AD has drastically changed history.

He and his friends have saved the entire world from Lavos,

By destroying the destroyer before it could conquer Zeal Kingdom.

But a shadow warrior, with history in both medieval Guardia and ancient Zeal kingdom, remains. His story has not yet come to conclusion.

The threat of Lavos is gone, but only time will tell

What will become of Magus.

__

Based on the sub-ending in Chrono Trigger right before Zeal kingdom is destroyed, and the story of that complex ending which remains untold. I don't own any of the characters from the original Chrono Trigger SNES game; they are all property of Squaresoft. Any original characters of my own creation will be listed at the end of the fic. I'm not making any money off this fic, nor am I asking for donations. Duh. Does anyone actually read these disclaimers? Anyway, let's get started on the fic.

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Split-Image History

Tale of the Undestroyed Zeal Kingdom, and the Untold Story of Magus

"If history is to change, let it change." Magus said to himself, standing just outside the entrance to the Ocean Palace's throne room. The floor below his feet glittered with ominous Zealean technology, just as he remembered it; channels of gently flowing lava coursed through the Ocean Palace like veins in a hellish monster, just as he remembered it; statues of gargoyle-like fetches, reptilian humanoids with bristling muscles, and maidens holding strange glowing offerings to unknown deities in their cupped hands, all exactly as he remembered it. The Ocean Palace: ominous, dark, and powerful. The construct queen Zeal had built to honor her kingdom's long-awaited eternal reign. But Magus knew how it would all end. Zeal Kingdom would be destroyed upon the moment queen Zeal summoned Lavos. The Ocean Palace would be the point from which the apocalypse would begin, ironically ending the ice age, reuniting the Enlightened and Earthbound, and reviving life once again on the face of planet earth.

All at the cost of hundreds of lives, … and the loss of his sister, Schala. This one event had, long ago, sent him to the Mystics in the year 600 AD, and now he was about to relive it, fully aware of what was about to occur.

"If the world is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed."

He was well aware the potential ramifications of his next actions. By challenging Lavos, he ran risks far greater than he could comprehend. Not only was he taking his own life into his hands by facing Lavos, but at this crucial juncture in history, much more was on the line. Supposing, with all hope, that he was able to destroy Lavos here and now; it would alter the timeline so drastically that he could not be certain what would happen. Almost unquestionably, something would happen to himself, even if he knew not what. He imagined for a moment standing victoriously in front of Lavos's destroyed form, only to suddenly blip out of existence, assuming the identity of Janus, only a Janus that had never been sent through time, a Janus that had never had everything he held dear torn from him. Then there was the future timelines to think about. What would the world be like if Zeal had never fallen?

But even worse possibilities presented themselves. Magus was now tinkering with the time-space continuum, not just of Zeal or even the earth, but the entire universe. What if by destroying Lavos, then ceasing to be Magus and losing his powers, he caused a rift in time-space,… that could destroy the entire universe, all existence. Or what if he discovered that timeline changes would prevent Lavos from being destroyed whatsoever? Such thoughts, he realized, were far too vast and outreaching for even his own well-attuned mind to comprehend.

Still, he had to go on with his plan. He could not bear the thought of being helpless and unable to protect Schala, twice.

"If it is my fate to be destroyed… I must simply laugh!!"

Even if anyone in this vast empty fortress was listening to his seemingly insane ramblings, they would give it little thought. Since establishing his guise as a 'prophet' in Zeal Kingdom, the citizens of Zeal had made it a point not to attempt to understand him, which gave him excuse for many odd behaviors that queen Zeal and the royals took as 'simply a part of the nature of those who are prophetically inclined', as queen Zeal had put it. By comparison, he was like a well-trained hacker who acted like a demented teenager; he was put up with and left alone because he could give the desired results, regardless of how bizarre his behavior became.

Then, in a low voice, he whispered to himself "I'm coming, Lavos.", almost as if to intimidate the unseen monster through sheer the determination of his cause.

He was a dark agent of death, set on destroying the destroyer, even at his own expense. With his secret weapon, a dreamstone scythe he had dubbed the Lunar Cry, concealed within the folds of his prophet's cloak, he walked slowly forward towards the doorway which would lead him into the central room of the entire Ocean Palace, queen Zeal's throne room.

Queen Zeal looked up as the prophet entered the darkened throne room. The Mammon Machine, completely still and silent with no energy whatsoever flowing through it, was directly behind where she now stood. Schala, in her usual long flowing purple robe, stood to her mother's right, looking visually nervous and uncertain. Magus knew all too well what his long-lost sister was thinking and feeling at the moment. Dalton was notably absent at the moment, left in Zeal Palace upon Magus's suggestion, in case Glenn and his band of interlopers somehow found their way back into Zeal's time period. A handful of other prominent Zeal citizens stood nearby, all anxious and excited. 'Why shouldn't they be?' Magus scoffed inwardly. 'These fools think they're about to receive eternal life. They're like children huddled around a Christmas tree, unable to wait any longer to open their presents.' But what these Zealeans were about to discover… would likely cost them their lives, not prolong life endlessly. Inside, Magus felt a mix of pity and scorn for these people who were about to open a proverbial Pandora's Box with far greater consequences than they could ever imagine.

"Ah, prophet." Queen Zeal stated upon seeing Magus arrive. "I am glad to see you are here. I trust everything is going well?"

"Yes,… everything is exactly as I saw it." He stated, putting no emotion into his reply so as to hide from the queen the true meaning of the statement.

"Good, good! Not a bad omen in sight. Then let us proceed." She turned to one of the attendants. "Send a messenger to Dalton. Tell him to leave the Golem Twins and a handful of soldiers to guard the entrance to the Ocean Palace; I want all the right people here to witness this event and take part." She then turned and looked into each Zealean's eyes, one by one, as she spoke. "We shall be the first fruits of the eternal kingdom which shall reign on the face of the earth from now until the end of time! The kingdom of Zeal shall soon extend it's borders far beyond just this simple planet; the universe in all it's glory shall become our limitless adventure to which there shall be no end. And all thanks to the unmatched power of the mighty Lavos…" She turned to Schala. "Schala, begin to increase the energy intake of the Mammon Machine. Give it time to reach nominal levels before we begin to tap into Lavos's true power. Then turn it up until we at last achieve immortality."

'And now it begins, again.' Magus thought to himself as he took his place on queen Zeal's left. Schala hesitated, then sighed in defeat and began chanting.

But the Mammon Machine did nothing. Not even the smallest glow. It was like the Mammon Machine was dead.

"… W-what is wrong? Schala, I told you to activate the Mammon Machine." The queen chastised.

"I,… I don't understand it." Schala stuttered. "I'm doing everything right. It **should** activate."

"Try again, and this time put more energy into it." The queen demanded, obviously irritated but not concerned by the situation. At least not yet.

Magus raised an eyebrow in inquiry. He never remembered there being any difficulty in Schala getting the Mammon Machine to activate. Never.

Schala continued chanting for several minutes, but still nothing.

"Mother, it just isn't working." Schala stated with an 'it isn't my fault' tone in her voice.

"Where's Dalton?" Queen Zeal demanded. A few minutes later, Dalton walked into the throne room, and all eyes locked instantly on him. He stopped dead in his tracks as he realized everyone was looking at him.

"I apologize if I've kept all of you waiting,-" Dalton was quickly cut off by the queen.

"Dalton, your engineers were in charge of installing the Mammon Machine into the systems of the Ocean Palace, correct??" Zeal demanded.

"Y-yes, queen Zeal."

"Then perhaps you can inform me why it is not functioning?"

Dalton cringed a little at the intensity and anger in the queen's voice.

"It's not working?" Dalton asked in a feeble, innocent tone.

"Dalton, if it was working, **would I be asking you right now why it isn't working**???"

As Dalton fumbled for words, queen Zeal turned to one of her attendants.

"Have the engineers Dalton used to install the machine brought here **immediately**. I want every component examined, checked, and double checked within one hour, and whatever's wrong fixed." She then turned to the others in the room, obviously fighting for composure. "For the moment, it appears that we shall have to wait. Dalton, I want you **personally** overseeing the repairs to the Mammon Machine. If it does not function within one hour, I'll hold **you** personally responsible."

Magus walked away from the throne room feeling somewhat confused. Had his coming here altered the timeline somehow? He had taken specific care not to tamper with any important events in Zeal history until now. He was certain that he remembered the Mammon Machine had functioned at the exact time queen Zeal had arranged when he had lived in Zeal as young Janus.

'Perhaps nothing more than technical difficulties; a loose conductor crystal or absorption node.' He thought to himself.

An hour later, the machine still would not function. Queen Zeal, taking personal oversight of the operation, could even herself find nothing wrong with the Mammon Machine. In utter confusion and frustration, Zeal had ordered everyone back to their positions, muttering vengefully about the three Gurus sabotaging the massive device.

Now Magus knew without a doubt that something was wrong. The timeline **had** changed, but he had no idea why. As he stood on the brown bridge that overlooked the Zealean lake and waterfall, he couldn't shake the odd feeling he'd gotten ever since Schala failed to activate the Mammon Machine the first time. He had been preparing restlessly for this one event, the one time where he would have his chance to take revenge against Lavos. It didn't make sense…

… Could Glenn and his band of mismatched misfits… have succeeded in destroying Lavos, just as they'd intended?

'No, that's impossible. Those fools wouldn't have stood a chance against Lavos, even with the Masamune.' Magus thought to himself. 'Besides which, if they had destroyed Lavos, it would have been obvious by now,… wouldn't it?'

Now that it was nighttime, Magus had slipped undetected back into the throne room of the Ocean Palace, and now knelt in silent observation over the different bits and pieces of the disassembled Mammon Machine. Using the Lunar Cry like a dowsing rod, he scanned it over every piece of the behemoth reactor in search of even the faintest sign of Lavos's energy. None. Queen Zeal's fountain of youth had run dry.

'There should at least be a little bit of energy left over, or at least some sign that there was energy here to begin with.' He paused in mid-thought. 'But there isn't even the slightest trace. That's impossible…'

"Princess Schala, the prophet wishes to speak with you." One of the attendants stated, coming to the top few steps of the room's staircase but no higher. Schala, brushing her hair, stopped mid-motion.

"What does he want to speak to me about?"

"All he would say is that it's both private and urgent, princess."

"Alright, then. Send him in." She said, obviously perplexed slightly by the nature of this sudden visit. The attendant walked back down the staircase, and moments later the ever-mysterious prophet entered the room, covered as always in his ritualistic garments and cloak, only now with the hood off and left to fall loosely below the back of his neck.

"You wished to speak to me?" Schala inquired.

"I've been having,… confusing visions as of late." Magus replied. "Princess Schala, . . . do you believe it's possible that the reason the Mammon Machine is no longer functioning… could be because Lavos has been destroyed somehow?"

"I only wish such a thing was possible." She laughed, her tone revealing her total disgust for the creature. Then she became more serious. "Why do you ask?"

"… Do you recall those travelers that I had you send back through that portal, then seal it?" He asked. She nodded, not sure what he was getting at. Magus continued. "I believe that they might have been time travelers."

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand what this has to do with the Mammon Machine not working."

How could he explain? His theory didn't even make sense to himself. But he knew three people that might be able to unravel this mystery.

"Princess Schala,… assuming for a moment that perhaps Lavos has been destroyed somehow, do you believe that the Gurus might be able to verify it?"

"What are you saying?" She inquired, suddenly seeming strangely hopeful. She then added in hushed tones "Are you going to attempt to rescue Melanchoir?"

"… Perhaps. If he can help me to locate the other two, it may be a starting place." He then added, very serious. "But you must promise me not to tell the queen about this."

"You have my word; she'll never find out from me." She paused. "But once the Mountain of Woe falls, it might be hard to keep from her."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a built-in security measure on the Mountain of Woe. In order to rescue Melanchoir, you'll need to destroy the defense robot, but if you do, it'll start a reaction that causes the giant chain that anchors the mountain to the ground to break."

"Causing the mountain to continue to float up until it leaves the atmosphere, effectively killing everything still on it." Magus assumed.

"No, but close. Melanchoir himself is the energy source for the entire mountain. Once he's free, he'll regain his powers quickly, but the mountain will also quickly plummet into the ocean. It's nearly impossible for anyone who cannot teleport away to escape alive."

"Then I shouldn't have much to worry about." Magus stated, turning to go. "Thank you, princess, for your help. I promise that I'll rescue Melanchoir."

(Well, that's the end of chapter 1. If you liked what you read, leave a review. No new characters at the moment, but maybe in the next few chapters. As always when I'm starting a series, if I find out I don't have an audience, I'll discontinue the fic, so REVIEW IF YOU WANT MORE!!That's it for now. See ya!)


	2. Mountains of Woe

Fate __

Fate

Believed by many to be a set of events that will unquestionably happen to a person during their lifetime.

Destiny

Connotes some form of purpose, and perhaps greatness, planned by an infinitely superior power, for a person to begin to prepare for from the moment they are born. AKA the meaning of life, at least for that individual.

There it rested, halfway between the frozen earth and the arctic skies. The Mountain of Woe, anchored to the ground by a massive chain of giant metal links. The chain itself spoke volumes about it's designer: someone who enjoyed overkill thoroughly, and at the same time was obviously trying to leave an impression of superior might and power on all who looked at it. The mountain itself spoke volumes more: not only could queen Zeal so not stand Melanchoir that simply being on the same continent as him was a repulsive thought to her, but a commoner's prison was, in her eyes, unsuitable for someone who displeased her as much as Melanchoir. So, all for the sake of proving a point, she unearthed an entire mountain and set it up as Melanchoir's prison.

As Magus used his powers to let him fly towards the ominous mountain, he couldn't help but laugh. Any Zealean prison would have been enough to hold Melanchoir, who would likely rather choose to be in prison than help Zeal in her plot. Even at a distance, Magus could see that the mountain was covered with different creatures, not very unlike those who had once served him when he had been leader of the Mystics, who were likely commissioned to stand guard and attack any intruders. From his vantage point, Magus could see clusters of bronze-colored gargoyles encircling the mountain from the air, keeping watch on the mountain below. 'A direct assault would be useless.' He thought to himself. 'Not only would I be seriously outnumbered, but it would make my presence known far too quickly. However, if I go in through the Earthbound village, I may be able to avoid mass detection and keep queen Zeal from realizing what I'm doing.'

A risky plan, but it would have to do. Veering down towards the ground, Magus set his sights on the small cave that marked the entrance to the Earthbound village.

Donning once again his prophet attire, Magus made his way through the small underground village with ease. It was obvious to all the Earthbound Ones who he was, so they stayed out of his way and let him alone. Upon entering the Beast Cave, Magus made short work of the cave's guardian creatures with the use of the Lunar Cry and one or two random elemental techs, and quickly silenced the mud imp who was guarding the base of the chain.

From there, a little climbing brought him to the base of the mountain. As he'd predicted, despite all the fog cover, it wasn't long before a pack of gargoyles located him. Quickly dealt with. Each foolish monster that got in his way quickly realized it was getting on the bad side of a force much stronger than themselves. The mountain was also dotted with what appeared to be living clusters of rock, but since none of these attacked him, only once or twice did Magus have to dispense of the oddly elusive piles of rubble.

Climbing each chain link in silent confidence, Magus soon found himself standing on the pinnacle of the mountain, at the place where Melanchoir was imprisoned.

The crystal that surrounded Melanchoir's frozen body was unquestionably the product of Zealean technology. It was placed, like as if some rare gem or artifact, on a raised platform in the middle of the mountain's basin-shaped peak, walls of jagged rock fencing in the area on all sides. On the opposite side of the crystal prison, across from Magus, was what appeared to be a large pit, which Magus assumed to be where the defense robot was kept hidden. A strange darkness cloaked the area, the only source of light being the massive ice-colored crystal.

"So, this is where Melanchoir is imprisoned." Magus thought out loud. He looked directly at the large crystal. "Knowing my mother, this crystal is nothing but a holographic projection, designed to trigger the defense robot." He pulled his left glove down a little tighter on his hand. "Well then, it only makes sense to get in the first attack in a situation like this."

Taking care with his aim, Magus sent a Lightning 2 attack crashing down into the shadowed cavern. Moments later, a sound like an irritated groan or a muffled roar echoed up from the deep cave. As Magus had suspected, the crystal and it's contents dematerialized as a massive, dark-purple and black metal robot with two gravitated fists hovered up from within the crater. It's body was covered in spikes and it had a stupid happiness expression on it's face.

Magus began the battle strong, sending a Dark Matter attack spiraling straight at the mindless machine. The attack vaporized both fists, and did significant damage to the torso armor. The robot retaliated with a bolt of black electricity from it's mouth, but Magus managed to dodge the blast with a short leap into the air. While in mid-air, he aimed one open palm at the robot's head and blasted it with a Dark Bomb, leaving only half the head in place. It seemed, however, that the titanium titan did not require it's head in order to operate, and to Magus's surprise it quickly regenerated it's fists, continuing it's attack with a blast of pure fire energy from both of it's hands. Magus shielded himself with his cape and waited out the blast, then used a Dark Mist attack to sent the metal monster back to the junkyard.

Magus was breathing heavily from the effort of the fight, but at least for the moment the robot was out of commission. With a sudden flash of light, the crystal rematerialized on it's platform, and as Magus watched in silence, the crystal began to fall apart, turning to dust and blowing away in the wind until all that was left was… Melanchoir.

Magus was inclined to believe this might be the actual Melanchoir. As the elderly guru opened his eyes and took a few much-needed breaths of fresh air, Magus slowly approached him, putting away the Lunar Cry quickly so as not to give the old man the impression of being hostile. Melanchoir, as soon as Magus began approaching, looked up in relieved surprise at his rescuer.

"Thank you, whoever you are. You don't know how long I've been in there." Melanchoir exclaimed, slowly stepping down off the platform with the help of his cane. "Come to think of it, neither do I. But who are you, and more importantly, what can you tell me about the Ocean Palace?"

"There's no time to explain it all here. The mountain's about to collapse. Suffice to say that I'm someone who needs your help." Magus stated.

With a massive crash and an apocalyptic tidal wave of rushing water, the Mountain of Woe found it's final resting place deep beneath the surface of the frigid ocean. Magus and Melanchoir watched from a distance, having escaped the floating mountain's final fate moments before it began it's suicide plunge into the depths. Magus's cape whipped about violently as the rush of wind caused by the mountain's sudden movement, his eyes fixated on the floating islands that harbored Zeal kingdom.

"Care to explain what's going on now?" Melanchoir inquired. Magus didn't shift his gaze even as he replied to the elderly guru.

"My history is… complicated. But what I can tell you is this:" He paused for a moment. "Queen Zeal seems to have failed in her quest for immortality."

"Pray tell; what do you mean?"

"Make no mistake, old man. She completed the Ocean Palace just as she planned, and positioned the Mammon Machine within it's confines,… but through some twist of fate, the Mammon Machine is now unable to tap into Lavos's energy. Like as if there was no energy, either that or no Lavos."

Melanchoir was strangely silent for a moment.

"… This is perplexing indeed." He replied at last. "By all logical means, there shouldn't be anything that could interfere with the Mammon Machine's power intake from Lavos,… except…"

"Yes, and that 'except' is the reason I freed you, Melanchoir." He turned to face the guru. "You and the other two are the only ones who can ascertain… Lavos's present condition for me."

"It will be difficult." He paused. "But how in the world could Lavos be destroyed?"

"All things are mortal, even Lavos." Magus turned his gaze back to Zeal island. "Can you manage locating the other two gurus?"

"Yes, I should be able to handle it."

"Good. How long will it take you?"

"Perhaps a day at most, assuming I can gain access to one of the land bridge teleportation chambers and reconfigure it."

"Then meet me at the cave to the east of the Earthbound village, first thing tomorrow. You'll know it's the right cave because it'll have a sealed portal inside. Let no one know where you're going, or queen Zeal may realize what's going on."

"Where will you be, in case I need your assistance again?"

Magus turned to look at him, then pulled out his prophet's cloak and put it on.

"I have a position as one of queen Zeal's advisors. I don't recommend you attempt to locate me. Don't worry, you haven't seen the last of me."

Zeal island was rampant with activity, controversy, alarm, and general conversation and curiosity about the fallen Mountain of Woe. As Magus made his way silently passed the many crowds of Zealean citizens, he focused on pushing out all thoughts that queen Zeal might actually suspect him of the treacherous deed. This was no time to worry about the security of his disguise. 'Of course, though,' He thought to himself. 'Dalton will immediately try to point me out as being responsible for this. Whether queen Zeal will listen to him or not is another story.'

He quickly made it out from amongst the crowds and swiftly traveled the distance to Schala's room. After being ushered in by one of Schala's attendants, Magus didn't even have time to say a word before Schala, in whispered but excited tones, exclaimed:

"You did it! Please, tell me where Melanchoir is. Is he alright?"

"He's out locating the other two, Belthazar and Gaspar. Does anyone suspect me?"

"Only Dalton and a handful of his soldiers at the moment, but rumors are spreading like mad about the fall of the mountain." She paused. "My mother will want to see you at the Ocean Palace. You must go quickly, or she might start to suspect."

"I'll go then,… but I'll be back shortly. By your leave, princess."

With a small bow, he turned and made his way down the staircase, and back out to the open causeways of Zeal Palace. Just as moments before, the open areas of the palace harbored several large clusters of Zealeans whispering rumors to each other. Magus headed calmly for the entrance to the palace, not saying a word to any of the Zealean citizens.

As he opened the doorway,… he spotted a figure clad in a long simple gray hood-and-cape cloak looking at him from several feet outside of the doorway. The figure's face was hidden underneath the shadow of the cloak, and his hands were folded over his chest. For a long moment, the two just stood there, Magus strangely and inexplicably frozen in thought at the appearance of this stranger.

When he spoke, it was evident that the stranger was masking his voice, because of the low but strong overtones of his dialect.

"Magus, also known as Janus…" He said, his mouth barely visible beneath the hood of the cloak. Magus's eyes went wide in surprise as the figure continued. "Magus, beware the Lavos Overmind."

"… Who,… who are you? How do you-" Magus began, speaking in hushed tones, but the mysterious figure cut him off.

"Beware the Lavos Overmind. It is your true enemy, the source of all the Lavos, but you must never face it." The cloaked person paused. "It's power is beyond all other mortal beings. You must never face the Overmind, or you will surely meet your end."

"What are you talking about? What 'Lavos Overmind'?" Magus demanded.

"… You will know in due time. But if you challenge it's power, you do so at your own risk. Also,… be watchful for the warrior known as Macbeth. He is a skilled fighter, and you must use caution in battle against him."

"Explain yourself! Just who are you? Stop talking in riddles and give me some straight answers."

"You will understand when the time is right."

With that, the shadowed figure turned to go, his long gray cloak blown gently by the wind. Magus, both confused and curious, was not about to let the odd stranger go, however.

With a single swift movement, Magus lunged at the cloaked stranger, aiming to put him into a headlock and force some answers.

But at the moment Magus was barely about to touch the fabric of the cloak, there was suddenly no more person there. Skidding to an unexpected stop, Magus quickly looked about for any sign of the stranger, his eyes wide with sudden surprise and disbelief. 'No one could move that fast… could they?' Magus wondered to himself.

"Magus," Came a shout from behind him. Magus turned to look and discovered the figure standing on the very edge of the island, just short of the cliff. "Magus,… the truth will set you free. That is all that I can tell you."

With that, the figure once again vanished, as if into thin air, leaving Magus standing there, stunned and unable to believe what he'd just seen.

"Ah, prophet. I was just about to call for you." Queen Zeal stated, sitting on her throne at the Ocean Palace. Dalton was standing on her immediate left, glaring at Magus warily out of his one unpatched eye. Queen Zeal quickly motioned for her attendants to leave, which they did promptly.

Magus, of course, was already planning out his escape, if necessary, but keeping his composure at it's usual, cold, demeanor. He had already been caught unprepared once today, and he now chastised himself silently for underestimating that strange gray-cloaked messenger. He was not about to let himself fall victim to a potential trap by Dalton or queen Zeal.

"What is it you wish, my queen?" Magus said, in a calm tone.

"Don't play dumb, prophet!" Dalton suddenly fumed. "I'd bet my right eye that-"

"Dalton, silence. I'll deal with your concerns, so control yourself." Queen Zeal stated with a chastising glance at Dalton. She then calmed her composure and turned her attention to Magus, but the look in her eye was still one of suspicious inquiry. "Prophet tell me, did you have any visions or see any omens that may have pointed to the fall of the Mountain of Woe?"

"No, my queen. Even I was caught unaware of this… unexpected turn of events."

"Very well. Be that as it may, can you use your prophetic gifting to perhaps identify the person responsible?" She inquired with one raised eyebrow.

"I am at your service, queen Zeal. I shall do what I can…" He said, then closed his eyes as if in meditation.

Queen Zeal wanted a scapegoat to blame this on, Magus could tell. Thinking quickly about all the possible angles, the image of a single person came to mind.

"… I see a stranger, neither Earthbound or Enlightened, wearing a long gray cloak which hides both form and face." He paused, suddenly coming up with a good excuse to go along with his story. "Yes,… and what's more is that a strange power radiates from this foreigner. I believe that, like myself, this person may have an ability to foresee, and is perhaps responsible for my not foreseeing the fall of the mountain. The figure has an energy that is strange and different; I cannot even be sure whether or not this person is human. What's more… is that I believe this person may have visited the floating islands recently, and may still be in the vicinity."

"… That is officially the most ridiculous story I've ever heard in my whole life!" Dalton exclaimed, then turned to queen Zeal. "My queen, isn't it obvious that he's just making it up to-"

"Not another word, Dalton." Queen Zeal stated sharply, then turned back to Magus. "Prophet, there is talk that you, in fact, were responsible for the fall of the mountain. Now, because of your past service to me, I'm inclined to believe you. However, I require proof of this person's existence to verify the truth of what you're saying. Otherwise, an investigation of your activities may become necessary."

"… My queen, it is unlikely that I will be able to locate this person."

"You'd best find a way, prophet. In the meanwhile, Dalton and his troops will be in charge of the search for Melanchoir, assuming of course that he survived the fall of the mountain. If at any time you have any information of Melanchoir's whereabouts, tell me immediately, prophet. You are dismissed."

"She's onto me, I'm sure of it." Magus stated, pacing slowly around Schala's room. He still had on his prophet's cloak, but the hood now hung limply over the back of his shoulders, revealing the emotionless yet distinctly concerned expression on his face. Schala was seated on her bed nearby, watching him in silence. Magus continued. "And even if she isn't, she's suspicious." He then looked squarely at Schala. "I cannot risk you becoming caught in all of this too, princess Schala. I fear I may soon have to officially make my exit from your mother's service."

"But I cannot just leave you to fight this alone." Schala stated. Then she added hopefully. "Maybe my mother isn't as suspicious as it seems. Or perhaps you can locate the stranger before she finds Melanchoir."

"She isn't going to find Melanchoir, I'm sure of that. He may be old, but Melanchoir still has powers far beyond the common fold of the Enlightened Ones, and he is craftier than he appears. If anyone can locate Belthazar and Gaspar while evading Dalton's forces, it's him." He paused. "As for the stranger… my chances of ever even seeing him again are slim." He looked away, deep in thought. "He moved so quickly that it's next to impossible for me to ever catch him. One minute he was right in front of me,… the next gone. I've never seen anything quite like it."

He then took a deep breath and turned to look at Schala.

"Princess, I want to apologize for forcing your actions against those travelers. There… are many things about me that you do not know, many things in my past that may seem unfathomable to you. Truly… maybe it's better for you to never know my past."

"What do you mean?" She inquired, perplexed but curious and concerned.

Magus looked at her for a moment, his expression giving away barely the slightest hint of the tender brotherly care he felt towards this, his sister whom he might never be able to return to being the brother of. An invisible sadness mingled with the compassion in his eyes for just a moment, and he turned away his gaze before he spoke again.

"If I were to tell you, it would forever shatter your ability to live out the rest of your life with an unshaken heart. Such knowledge as I possess is what nightmares are made from, and I would never wish that on you. Suffice to say that, very much like your younger brother Janus,… I hold a deep admiration and compassion for you,… like one who feels they have only one friend in the world." He quickly added. "Please do not try to make sense of that,… but simply know that Janus and I have many things in common. In case I never return, keep these words in your heart, and treasure your brother Janus with unmatched friendship, for my sake."

Schala's expression was one of awestruck astonishment, and a deep red blush quickly crept into her cheeks.

"I wish I could explain,… but suffice to know that those strangers I had you seal away were in fact time travelers,… as am I."

Hours later, Magus arrived at the cave with the sealed portal, discovering Melanchoir, Belthazar, and Gaspar to all be standing around waiting for him. The sealed Gate still sparkled with light within it's purple pyramid of energy, the seal that Schala had placed on it. The Gate and it's prison gave off just enough light to see by, and the three gurus were huddled around it like as if huddled around a campfire, trying to keep warm. The cave was in fact quite cold, but it was a welcome relief from the snowy winds outside. The temperature didn't matter to Magus, however, and as he entered the cave he threw off his prophet's cloak and addressed the gurus.

"I trust none of you were followed here?"

"Don't worry," Belthazar stated, shivering slightly from the cold. "We made certain to cover our tracks."

"You're the one Melanchoir told us about, correct?" Gaspar inquired.

"My name is Magus, and yes, I'm the one who freed Melanchoir from the Mountain of Woe. Anything you wish to know beyond that, I will not tell you unless necessary. Has Melanchoir told you my request?"

"They know about the Mammon Machine." Melanchoir assured.

"In order to determine Lavos's present condition," Gaspar stated. "We will need to access certain sub-functions of the Mammon Machine that we kept secret from queen Zeal. That is the only way to discern what, if anything, has happened to Lavos."

"Sub-functions? Such as?" Magus inquired.

"The machine's primary use is channeling energy from Lavos. We encrypted the machine with verbal command access in an ancient language, exemplified in Schala's so-called chanting." Melanchoir explained.

"We were the ones who taught Schala how to activate the machine, as well as how to control it's power intake levels. We kept this knowledge a secret from queen Zeal, however, because we believed only Schala had the purity of heart to use it properly." Belthazar added.

"But there are several passwords and commands to the device that Schala does not know." Gaspar stated. "With our knowledge of the Mammon Machine's functions, we can track Lavos's time-spatial energy signature from anywhere on earth, as well as ascertain why the Mammon Machine isn't able to absorb Lavos's power anymore."

"… But getting into the Ocean Palace isn't going to be easy, much less getting access to the Mammon Machine right under the queen's nose." Magus muttered to himself, thinking out loud.

Suddenly, laughter was heard nearby. Magus and the gurus spun to see Dalton and a large collection of soldiers standing outside the entrance to the cave. Magus could tell that Dalton had teleported his forces here unnoticed mere moments ago, a gentle glow of energy slowly fading from around the group's collective forms. Magus slowly reached for the Lunar Cry as Dalton thoroughly laughed up his momentary triumph.

"Well well! If it isn't the false prophet and the pesky gurus. My my, just wait until queen Zeal hears about this little midnight gathering."

"Dalton!" Melanchoir exclaimed. "How? How did you follow us?"

"It was easy! All I had to do was follow the princess here," He gloated, nodding to a pair of soldiers guarding a captive Schala, hands tied behind her back. "And now I've got all of you right where I want you. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, prophet."

"Let her go!" Magus challenged. "It's me you're after, so leave her out of this."

"What, you think I'm **that** dense?" He smirked smugly. "With the princess here, none of you would dare attack me. You've run out of options, losers, and my superior cunning and intellect have won out in the end. Now surrender yourselves, and I may decide to bestow mercy on you."

Magus gritted his teeth in frustration. He knew Dalton wouldn't dare hurt Schala himself, but if he decided to attack Dalton might use Schala as a human shield, forcing Magus and the gurus' hands. The only entrance to the cave was blocked by Dalton's army… except…

"Gaspar!" Magus quickly turned to the gurus. "Open the Time Gate! It's our only chance!"

"Hurry!" Schala shouted, trying to break free of her restraints.

"Don't move a muscle or the princess gets it!" Dalton threatened.

"You wouldn't dare, Dalton." Melanchoir challenged, then turned to Gaspar. "Quickly, my friend! It's our only option."

"I'm warning you…!" Dalton shouted.

"No, I'm warning you, Dalton." Magus stated as Gaspar neutralized the seal on the Gate, causing it to instantly open like a jack bursting out of it's box. Magus leveled the Lunar Cry at Dalton threateningly. "You will be punished for harming her, you coward. I'll make sure of it."

Before Dalton could even flinch a muscle, Magus stepped backwards, disappearing into the phasing blue warp, his body being transformed into energy as his being was sent spiraling through time…

The gurus weren't far behind, and with an unexpected flash of uncontrolled energy, the Gate closed behind them, leaving Dalton and his army of soldiers behind.


	3. Across Time and Wisdom

Anyone who has ever lived has asked where the boundaries are __

Anyone who has ever lived has asked where the boundaries are

Some people ask because they want to break them

Others ask to understand the reason they existed in the first place

Still others seek security within ancient boundaries set by those who have gone before

Is time itself a boundary? Not anymore.

Energy. Flowing, ocean-like waves of pure energy. Everywhere.

The 'universe' between Gates was stranger than anything else Magus had ever seen. He could feel that his being was intact,… like as if somehow knowing in the back of his mind that he was still alive, yet not being able to move or do anything. In essence, it wasn't so much that he could 'see' the energy currents all around him, because seeing required eyes. He could 'detect' them; it was an experience far too different from common reality to be described in human terms. 'Detect' was the only word that came close; 'feeling' required some kind of direct physical contact or, more liberally, at least an internalized 'sensing' of something, like intuition. But Magus could not describe it like that either.

It was like being an electron traveling through a vast ocean of untold quantum energy, an electrical charge being conducted along a single thread of cosmic fabric.

It was a roller coaster ride unlike any other.

… As Magus slowly felt his body rematerialize, a process of indescribable feelings and effects, he began to register many different things at once. Firstly, the biggest sign that he was once again constructed of physical matter was that he could breathe again, which was a serious relief. Secondly, his eyes could see again, and a strangely faded curtain of light was stretched out mere inches in front of him, wavering from the effects of some unseen wind.

Thirdly, he suddenly felt himself crushed under the weight of several bodies that had landed on top of him. The Lunar Cry bounced about before coming to a stop several feet away as Melanchoir, Belthazar, and Gaspar quickly fell off of one another and Magus, hitting the ground with muffled various grunts. Magus, both relieved to be alive and irritated by the sudden aching in his back, got to his feet and straightened his spine with a series of dull 'crack' sounds.

"I'm getting too old for this." Melanchoir whined, picking himself up off the ground.

"Now that's what I call… a 'crash course in time travel'." Gaspar stated, laughing amusedly at his own bad joke.

"Well," Magus suddenly interjected. "I appreciate the group chiropractic treatment, but I'm more interested in finding out just where we are."

The surrounding area could best be described as a small piece of London floating in the middle of nothingness. Rugged stones put together with some kind of brown cement made for the ground beneath Magus and the gurus' feet, and a dark metal fence followed the perimeter of this odd 'twilight zone'. A short wooden gate was nearby, a very unnecessary device in a place so small, and a lamppost with an odd figure leaning against it stood in the middle of the larger square area up ahead. The lamppost cast odd unstable light on the whole area, and the strange fog which hung motionlessly about made seeing anything beyond the lamppost nearby impossible. Magus picked up the Lunar Cry, then nodded to the gurus and the four time travelers slowly pushed aside the wooden gate and approached the lamppost.

The figure himself also looked like something out of London. He was dressed in mostly dark brown clothes which hid him well in a place like this, and wore a somewhat large round brown hat, which hid his eyes beneath it's shadow. He appeared to be sleeping contentedly, and as Magus drew closer he could hear the man snoring. 

'Where are we?' Magus wondered to himself. 'Who is this geyser? To when in time did that warp take us??'

"He appears to be asleep." Belthazar stated needlessly.

"Well, if we want any answers, we'll just have to wake him up." Magus stated, then gave the strange old man a good strong shove, knocking his hat off and causing him to jolt awake.

Gaspar, then the other two gurus, suddenly froze at the sight of him. Magus also looked on at the old man in silent, yet calm, surprise. The face of the elderly gentleman was none other than Gaspar himself.

"W-w-what in the world?!" The startled old man exclaimed, snapping out of his slumber and being instantly shocked by all the well-known faces looking back at him, including his own. Magus raised one eyebrow in query as he watched the awakened geyser and the other Gaspar stuttering and grasping for words.

"What's going on here??" Belthazar exclaimed, likewise confused and startled.

"Y-you, you're me,… from the past!" The awakened Gaspar look-alike exclaimed.

"What do you mean?" Gaspar stuttered.

"Excuse me for interrupting your revelatory conversation," Magus stated, getting the Gaspar look-alike's attention. "But I've got a few questions of my own. For starters, where are we?"

The second Gaspar looked blankly at Magus for a minute, then picked up his hat and addressed Magus's question.

"Why, this is the End of Time." He paused for a minute. "Since I assume that you all were attempting to time-travel through the same Gate, that means that the law of conservation of time caused you to end up here."

"Explain. And how can this be the end of time if we're standing here and time is still passing?" Magus questioned.

"By traveling through a Gate with more than three people at a time, the collective time fields of the travelers place too much quantum stress on the Gate's warp fields,-" The resident Gaspar began, and the other Gaspar finished his thought. "We arrived here, at the point of least resistance, the very moment before time ceases to exist."

"So let me get this straight. We're at the exact moment before time ceases to exist. How is that possible?" Magus asked.

"All matter resonates time fields, just like all matter resonates gravity fields." The lamppost Gaspar stated. "By traveling through time, however, you caused an instant change in the time fields of you and the three gurus. It's a confusing concept, but I'll try to explain as best I can. You see, normal people's time fields can be effected by changes in the past, because their time fields exist in both their past and present. But time travelers only have existing time fields in their relative present moment, and are personally unaffected by changes in the past. Only the present moment can effect you now that you've become time travelers. And since this is the very last moment of time remaining, you can stay here, in this singular moment, as long as you like."

"And this place," Belthazar inquired. "How did it get here?"

"Well, I am the guru of time, you know." The lamppost Gaspar stated. "Or at least I can still use my powers, even if the title and position of 'guru' is useless to me now."

"Are you saying," The other Gaspar inquired. "That you realigned the time stream here to create this place?"

"Yes. It's not much, but it's home." He laughed a little. "Alright, I think I understand what's going on now."

"Yes, do tell." Melanchoir asked.

"This should be good." Magus stated.

"Well, perhaps you've met that teenager named Crono and his friends?" The end-of-time Gaspar asked.

"Who?" Belthazar wondered, not sure what this had to do with anything.

But Magus knew.

"Yes, what about them?" Magus asked.

"Well, they destroyed Lavos before it could do it's damage to Zeal kingdom."

Magus gave Gaspar a blank stare for a minute. 'Is he serious?? **They **destroyed **Lavos**?? That's absurd!'

"That's impossible." Magus stated emotionlessly. "What you're telling me is that a punk teenager, a blonde, a nerd, a frog and a tin can destroyed Lavos?"

"You see that bucket over there?" Old Man Gaspar pointed out. Magus looked over to see a simple wooden bucket in one corner with a little sparkle of strange light hanging in mid-air right above it. "The warp particle in that bucket will instantly open a Gate to 1999 AD, the Day of Lavos. If you don't believe me, go investigate yourself. Besides which, there's no other explanation for all of you being here except that."

"Alright, then answer me this, old man." Magus stated. "If they destroyed Lavos, how was I able to almost summon it in the year 600 AD?"

"You summoned Lavos???" Melanchoir exclaimed.

Magus slowly turned his back to the gurus before answering.

"For revenge against it. I suppose it's time to lay the facts on the table, then."

Magus quickly explained to them the twisted time traveling nightmare that brought him from being prince Janus of Zeal kingdom, to Magus of the nation of the Mystics, to being a 'prophet' for queen Zeal, all in search of his revenge against Lavos. The gurus all listened intently, stunned by what they were hearing.

"And I guess that also explains how he got here," Magus said, gesturing over to Old Man Gaspar. "Each of the three of you were sent into various time warps by Lavos, just as I myself was. Gaspar must have ended up at here because of his inherent link to the space-time continuum." He looked aside. "But something still troubles me. How **was** I able to nearly summon Lavos if it's been destroyed. And why was there not one bit of energy in the Mammon Machine at all?"

"I believe," Gaspar stated. "That the answer lies within Lavos's own powers. Our research on Lavos has confirmed that it's power was so massive that it created it's own time warp fields around itself. If Lavos is destroyed, then only it and it's energy will cease to exist, but it's effects on the timeline of our world, mostly, should remain unaltered."

"But what about previous energies drawn from Lavos?" Magus asked.

"… It could have something to do with the deactivation and repositioning of the Mammon Machine." Belthazar stated. "Even with Lavos itself destroyed, if the Mammon Machine was linked into Lavos's energies, it may have kept the energy fields from totally disappearing along with the timeline changes. However, by shutting the machine off so it could be brought to the Ocean Palace, queen Zeal effectively cut Lavos's energy's last remaining foothold in our universe. At least, that seems like the most likely theory."

"You four really understand all this science stuff about time and Lavos, huh?" Magus stated with a bemused half-smile.

"It comes from years of studying under your step-father, my boy." Melanchoir stated, then looked off into the distance blankly. "He was a great man, your step-father. Solved many great mysteries, including tapping into space-time to create magic. But the one mystery he never could solve was that of your origins, Janus."

"My name is Magus now, guru. The innocence that was found in the heart of Janus no longer lives in me; I am no longer that person anymore." Magus stated coldly.

"So what do we do from here?" Belthazar inquired, arms folded. "We can't return to Zeal because we'll be hunted down like animals, and we can't stay here for the rest of our lives either."

There was a long moment of silence.

"There are one or two things I'd like to investigate." Magus stated, turning and looking at Old Man Gaspar. "Shortly before escaping from Zeal, I was encountered by a strange person wearing a long gray cloak. He warned me about something called the 'Lavos Overmind' before eluding my attempt to make him explain himself. Do you have any understanding of what he was talking about?"

For a long moment, the gurus were completely silent. Melanchoir's jaw even dropped somewhat.

Magus took this to mean that this was a bad thing.

"… If this mystery person is referring to what I think he is,…" Melanchoir said, awed and perhaps somewhat frightened. The elderly guru quickly shook his head and cleared his throat. "What I mean is,… well,… during our studies of Lavos under your step-father, we all agreed that Lavos had to have some kind of definitive origin, perhaps be a part of some species of a far-off world or such. Our theory that Lavos was not a unique creature was thoroughly proved when the first of it's brood of Lavos Spawn was discovered roaming about on the surface. Queen Zeal has since taken this creature as a pet,… but we've long feared what our research was indicating."

"Which is what?" Magus asked, knowing that the gurus were now solidifying his initial assumptions about this 'Lavos Overmind'.

"The Lavos Spawn showed a strange genetic pattern." Belthazar stated. "It's DNA seemed to operate like a data storage system, having within itself the ability to potentially accumulate all the abilities, strengths, powers, and I dare say the knowledge of our entire world through energy absorption from living things. In affect, it was absorbing the best resources of our world and using it to further it's own cellular evolution. Assuming Lavos operated much the same, it made sense to assume that Lavos was the work of some level of higher intelligence."

"Lavos and it's offspring would live on a world for as long as possible until all of that world's energy was gathered and processed." Old Man Gaspar stated. "Then, to free itself of the world in which it had imbedded itself and it's offspring, it would eventually cause the planet to be wiped of all remaining life and then drain the planet's core, causing the planet's gravity center to break down. The planet, our world, would then have been easy for Lavos to break apart with minimal force." Old Man Gaspar turned away. "I've watched it all happen from here, at the end of time, so I'm somewhat of an expert. In fact, you may be surprised to note that our asteroid belt was once a planet like ours,… but a Lavos destroyed it."

"Are you serious?!!" Magus exclaimed, a strange mixture of disgust, rage, and bitterness forming deep inside him. He clenched one fist. "They just harvest energy, and lives, and move on??!" He turned to Old Man Gaspar. "And where does Lavos go after it's done??"

"Couldn't tell ya." The old timer stated. "From here, all I can see is the past, present, and future of the earth. Once the earth was destroyed, my ability to track events ceased." He then grinned. "But the earth won't be destroyed, not for even farther into the future than I can see. Thanks to Crono and his friends, Lavos is no longer a threat."

"Your ability to see time streams is obviously far better than mine." The other Gaspar stated. "I only hope I'll learn to use that ability."

"You will."

"At any rate," Belthazar began afresh. "The very nature of Lavos seemed, even with our limited knowledge of it, to point towards them being like the worker ants of a being superior to themselves. I'd say that an 'Overmind' would well fit the description."

"… There was also someone else that the stranger mentioned." Magus stated. "A person named Macbeth. I was warned that he was a skillful fighter."

"… Macbeth… Macbeth…" Old Man Gaspar said, trying to remember. "The name sounds familiar… wait! Now I remember! Please, follow me."

Old Man Gaspar quickly led the way over to a large wooden door that had been previously hidden by the fog. He opened it and led the group inside. This room seemed somehow isolated from the fog, and Magus was suddenly struck by the vast nothingness stretching out in all directions, far darker than even the void of space. The room was simple, mostly empty, and constructed similar to the rest of this strange 'landing in the middle of nowhere'. Then Magus suddenly spotted a sleeping Nu, a weird red one, in the room's upper left corner. Old Man Gaspar shook his head and sighed.

"This is Spekkio, the only other person here besides myself and the random visitors I get every one in a while." Old Man Gaspar explained. "He's a member of a species of metamorphs known as Celestials, and has uncanny magic abilities due to his specie's inherent knowledge and understanding of the time-space continuum. He sleeps a lot, and claims to be the 'master of war' whenever he wakes up, which makes him quite annoying,-"

"I heard that." Spekkio muttered, suddenly awake. The metamorph got to it's skinny feet and gave Old Man Gaspar the most disturbing blank-eyed stare. Even Magus couldn't help but be slightly disturbed by the thoughtless expression on it's face, one even blanker than the Nu inhabitants of Zeal kingdom. Old Man Gaspar cringed within just seconds of the glance. "And for your information, I **am** the Master of War, and I'll prove it any day, old timer!"

"You just say that because, except for Lavos, you've always been the single most powerful magic user to ever come to earth." The elderly man replied.

"OK, so I'm just earth's Master of War, but I'll take what I can get." The Nu shrugged. It then looked at Magus and the gurus. "Who're these guys? Hey, one of em' looks kinda like you, Old Man."

"That's because this **is** me, Spekkio. What with the timeline rearranging, we both knew something like this would happen sooner or later. He is myself from Zeal kingdom."

"And the rest of em'?"

"This is Belthazar, guru of reason, and Melanchoir, guru of life. And this," He indicated to Magus. "Is a person named Magus, who was once Prince Janus of Zeal kingdom, as well as leader of the Mystics in 600 AD."

"Oh yeah, I remember him. Hey, isn't he the kid who broke the world record for youngest time traveler?"

"Please don't remind me." Magus muttered, then addressed Spekkio directly. "Old Man Gaspar said you knew about a person named Macbeth. What can you tell me about him?"

The crimson Nu was silent for a long moment.

"Macbeth? What do you want with him?"

"Just tell me what I want to know."

"Sheesh. Alright, chill your shadow-element jets." Spekkio took a deep breath. "Alright, here's the deal. Macbeth is a Celestial who decided to take it upon himself to be the maintainer of the time-space continuum at large, devoting himself to keep time from changing on any massive scales. He has this theology about 'protecting the future of the universe', and went vigilante a long time ago. He doesn't mess around much with little, unimportant planets like earth, but if somebody were to try to do anything big like prevent an event that effected an entire galaxy, he'd cut them down faster than you can say 'nightmare'. Good or bad, he won't let anyone mess with the big events of the universe, and he's strong enough to back up his beliefs pretty well. Most Celestials can't come close to his level of power. And it's out of the question for humans,… unless…"

"Unless what?" Magus demanded, suddenly intrigued by this time-vigilante in the light of the stranger's warning.

"… Hope you came prepared for a history lesson, kiddo." Spekkio stated.

"As I'm sure a magic user at your level is aware, there are four basic elements involved in quantum manipulation, also known as magic. Those elements are Fire, Water, Lightning, and Shadow. However, it's easily possible for a user to have a modified element, like ice for instance. But that's all besides the point."

"These four elements are derived from a pair of advanced elements, known as Solar and Prism. The Solar elements are Fire and Lightning; the Prism elements are Water and Shadow. Solar and Prism are elemental powers that rarely occur naturally, but it's also even rarer for a person to actually advance to the next stage of elemental power. However, there are always exceptions…"

"Take your sister Schala for example. She was born Water-element, but something changed her into Prism early on in her life. That something is a little invention of your step-father's, a power source known as the Star Crystal. It can change Fire and Lightning types into Solar, and Water and Shadow types into Prism, just with a touch. However, the person making the change has to have an inherent quality about them that would allow for the transformation; ya know, some special quality in their powers that can be drawn out to help them advance to the next level. Well, Schala obviously had it, and somethin' tells me you might too, Magus."

"There's a stage beyond Solar and Prism, too. I've never seen it in humans, but almost all Celestials are born with it. It's called Cosmic, and it gives it's user powers way beyond the other elements by tapping into the energy that makes up the fabric of our universe. Needless to say, I've never seen a human capable of pulling it off,… but by all logical means, a strong enough person should be able to transform into a Cosmic, although I have no idea how anyone would go about doing it."

"At any rate," Spekkio concluded. "Macbeth, being Cosmic by nature, is a superb fighter. It would take serious firepower to beat him. You're better off not even trying."

"I'm not the kind of person to turn down a challenge." Magus stated. "Tell me, where would I find this Star Crystal?"

"Your step-father was an exceptional magic user himself, Magus." Old Man Gaspar stated. "In fact, his powers were so exceptional that he was able to literally create Time Gates at will. But eventually, to keep his research safe from queen Zeal, he faked his own death and went into the far future. However,… he did die a very real death. I'm afraid not even time travelers are immortal."

"What do you mean?? What happened to him?"

"… Your step-father fell victim to an advanced strain of virus in the future, something unique to time travelers that conventional medicine could never begin to decipher. I saw it all from here, at my lookout by the lamppost, and I was helpless to stop it. As the disease ate away at his body, his time field began to destabilize and eventually he simply vanished from that entire time period, leaving his research and Star Crystal as the only reminders that he'd ever existed in that time period."

"W-what? How, just how is that possible??" Magus stammered, not entirely sure whether to be shocked or enraged. This was just too much for even him to deal with all at once: that his step-father had faked his own death, traveled to the future, then been erased by a time virus??

"The Tetrarch virus causes a destabilizing in the victim's time fields. The long term effects are death and total erasure of the victim's presence anywhere in time after the last time-jump. In effect, your step-father no longer exists in that time period."

"… And I dare not try to undo any of what he did while in Zeal, in case the future alters so that Lavos was never destroyed, or worse." Magus said in a depressed, frustrated tone. He then turned and looked at Old Man Gaspar. "Where did he hide the Star Crystal? Tell me!"

Gaspar thought about it for a long moment.

"… As far as I know, your step-father had a secret lab in a cave hidden somewhere under Death Peak in 2300 AD. Beyond that, I can't tell you any specifics."


	4. Star Crystals and Time Travelers

Does night follow day, or day follow night __

Does night follow day, or day follow night?

Is heat merely the absence of cold, or is cold the absence of heat?

We live in a world of both good and evil, light and darkness, the flame of hope and the cold taste of that which is forbidden. We know no other way. But in the final end, only good or evil can triumph.

Day, night. Heat, cold. Light, darkness. Hope, despair. Good, evil.

Choose.

There it was. Standing like a stone hurricane in the midst of an otherwise peaceful time period. It's snow-covered peaks were barraged by rampant winds and bone-chilling temperatures. Magus watched the Gate behind him shrink into obscurity, knowing that it would be reopened from the other side at the end of one half-hour. He had that long to find the Star Crystal and learn what he could about his step-father's research in the field of magic powers.

But where to start looking? There were a hundred thousand places one could hide the secret entrance to a laboratory so long as the searching area was as big as an entire mountain.

Magus looked out momentarily at the surrounding area. High-tech domes and mini-domes dotted the otherwise lush landscape in the distance, and there were almost no signs of human life outside of the domes and the paved roadways which interconnected them. 'A society so devoted to it's technology that they isolate themselves from anything with leaves and roots; how sad.' Magus scoffed to himself. 'A society like that is simply begging for the same fate that befell Zeal kingdom in the form of Lavos.'

Back to the mountain. Magus quickly decided to try utilizing the black wind to guide him. He closed his eyes and focused.

"Do you really think he'll be able to locate Verran's laboratory?" Belthazar inquired. He had his arms folded and was leaning back against the iron fencing at the end of time, a skeptical look on his face.

"Why, do you think he won't be able to?" Melanchoir asked.

Belthazar made a disapproving grunt.

"You heard his story, how he turned on humanity for revenge against Lavos. I'd dare say there isn't a drop of purity or pure intention left in him."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Melanchoir retorted. "Besides which, this is Janus we're talking about. True, he's changed-"

"He's no longer Janus; he said so himself." Belthazar stated reproachfully. "The Janus that we knew was shy and felt it was difficult to find any friendships outside of the three of us and his sister. This 'Magus' is a ruthless destroyer, deciever,-"

"Stop it!" Old Man Gaspar stated. The other Gaspar continued his thought. "Do you always judge books by their covers, Belthazar? Janus as we knew him had a good reason to be friendly with only a select group: we, along with Schala, were the only ones in Zeal not caught up in the lure of immortality through Lavos. And we all know that Janus had premonitionary feelings about how evil Lavos truly was."

"What are you saying?" Belthazar inquired harshly.

"If you dislike what he's had to do and who he's become, you can blame Lavos and the environment he grew up in for most of it." Gaspar stated.

"… However, all this brings up one very interesting question." Melanchoir stated, drawing everyone's attention. "Magus is the result of a chain of events caused by Lavos; you can hardly blame him for most of what's happened to him. However, because of the time changes, there should now be another version of him, a Janus who never faced the kinds of darkness that Magus has. I personally would be interested in seeing the vastness of differences that can potentially exist within a single individual like Janus."

"Perhaps,…" Belthazar stated, only slightly interested in the idea.

"Gentlemen," Old Man Gaspar suddenly announced, getting everyone's attention. The elderly time guardian had a distinctly concerned look on his face. "… I've just had an incredibly disturbing thought."

"Yes, what?" Melanchoir inquired.

"Janus isn't the only one that will be changed because of what has happened to the time stream." There was a tone of urgency in his voice. "In fact, almost the entire future of our world, including the future of Crono and those who stopped Lavos, was able to become what it is because of the fall of Zeal kingdom. Simply put, the eras Crono and his friends are from **don't** have a giant floating island hovering in the skies; it simply isn't there. But if allowed to continue to exist, Zeal kingdom will drastically alter the future in ways none of us can predict!"

"Goodness gracious!" Melanchoir exclaimed.

"What?!" Belthazar was quite surprised.

"Calm down, calm down." Old Man Gaspar stated. He paused for a moment to clear his throat. "The changes in the timeline shouldn't be a difficulty as far into the future as Magus has gone; at least, nothing should have changed that would get in his way,… but I'm afraid that Zeal kingdom's very existence has even now changed history for the worse. For the sake of the history of our world,… I'm afraid that Zeal kingdom cannot be allowed to continue."

"Can't you see what's happening in the time stream?" Gaspar inquired.

"… No, not fully. The time currents are still rearranging themselves, shifting between dimensional frequencies and such. The changes are there; there's simply too much leftover static for me to discern too many things. Once it quiet's down, things will be clearer, but the facts are clear: so long as there's a change that certain events, or worse, time travelers, can change preset events, our world won't be safe."

Magus couldn't believe what he wasn't sensing.

It was as if the black wind was totally silent. In hiding. He grunted in frustration.

'Well then,' He figured. 'I'll just have to come up with a better way…'

History had indeed been altered, every time period previous Zeal having been drastically changed. To start things off, a few years after the failure of the Mammon Machine, queen Zeal suffers from a fatal disease and the kingdom is quickly overrun from within by the Mystics, sending the Enlightened Ones earthbound along with all their magical powers. In the year 600 AD, empires of magic-using human warlords decimate the landscape, poisoning the seas by the sheer carnage as the Mystics watch on from the floating islands, waiting for the ragged remains of humanity to destroy itself. In 1000 AD, those humans still alive, led by a warrior named Crono, infiltrate the floating islands and defeat the Mystics, who had long-since been thought of by the remaining humanity as the 'gods of magic'. Crono proved that notion wrong, but at the cost of his own life as he destroyed the central energy generators of the island, and himself as well. Eventually, with the floating islands destroyed, magic powers became the worst of taboo, and so, seeking shelter from further devastation, humanity hid itself away inside glass-domed cities where they'd be protected from the few remaining Mystics, humans as a whole turning to technology rather than magic to bring itself into a stable way of life…

But all this was completely unknown to Magus as he searched the mountain, using his powers to send wisps of Dark Mist all across every surface of the giant rock. It was kind of like echolocation of a sort: he'd focus on controlling and guiding the Dark Mist, and when it found any tunnels into the mountain he would follow his findings and search out the area. In a way, his own impromptu black wind, one that now hid the entire surface of the mountain in it's shadowy dark vapors.

Magus was at this for about twenty minutes before he found it. Yes, a tunnel, with a fake-rock door keeping it concealed from the common eye. Dissipating the Dark Mist with a thought, Magus headed for the location, realizing that he'd employed a large amount of his energy up with such a time-saving magic maneuver, energy that it would take him some time to regain. But he hardly noticed; his mind was set on the secret entrance and the mystery of what it hid.

It caught everyone, including Old Man Gaspar, by surprise. As the flash of light lit the area, momentarily filling the entire End of Time with searing brilliance, the gurus were all forced to shield their eyes as hot white light filled their field of view. Even after the light faded, splotches of uncontrolled color still hazed everyone's view,… but their hearing was still crystal clear.

"…Where are we?" Asked a strangely familiar, and yet different, masculine voice. The voice seemed to be coming from over where the pillars of light were.

"… I don't know…, wow, look at this place." Came an even more familiar feminine voice. At the sound of this voice, all of the gurus suddenly froze in mid-breath, almost unsure of what they were hearing, and even as their eyes cleared they were almost afraid to look.

"… Are we… dead?" Asked the female voice, slight fear sounding in her tone. "Oh my gosh, are you sure you did it right?"

"I,… I,… I don't know." Stuttered the male voice. "I was sure that the Gate was stable…"

Here it was. Magus had to admit to himself that the entrance was incredibly well hidden. The fake rocks met the real ones with practically no deviation in realism. But his Dark Mist maneuver had proven otherwise to him. The entrance was at the base of the mountain, on the western side, hidden additionally by a large cluster of bushes. Anyone looking at the site would never have guessed it to be the secret entrance to an underground chamber.

Finding a way to open the door was far simpler than finding the door itself. A Dark Bomb blew away the false rocks with ease; Magus didn't have the time or patience to go searching for the switch that opened the door, assuming it was switch-operated. Wasting no time, he bolted into the tunnel even before the debris had a chance to clear. Using his energy fields to both defy gravity and propel him forwards at incredible speed, Magus flew straight down the unbending tunnel like a superhuman dark-blue blur.

At the end of the tunnel, he discovered a massive metal door. Once again, no apparent means of easy entry. Once again, not a problem.

Using a Fire 2 attack, Magus quickly turned up the temperature on the center of the door, leaving the frame intact so that it wouldn't give the tunnel cause to cave in on him. When the door refused to simply allow him to melt a hole through it, Magus switched to plan B. As the effects of his Ice 2 attack caused an even quicker and more sudden and drastic temperature change in the door, Magus was easily able to simply punch apart the brittle steel with his fists, sending fragments of ice and metal flying like glass shards.

The area beyond the steel door was like stepping from one universe to the next. If he had been anyone else, Magus's jaw would have dropped from the sheer amazement of the lab. Instead, he simply raised one eyebrow in surprise. The lab's floor was made of millions of reflective blue crystals, yet was as smooth as glass under his feet. The domed ceiling was a silver-like metal, reflecting almost like a mirror. There were little or no walls in the room to speak of; the lab was ringed with large computers, bookcases, and hundreds of devices that Magus didn't recognize. The computers seemed to be hybrids: part Zealean technology, partially the technology of this time period, and part something else that Magus couldn't put his finger on.

And on a high-tech pedestal in the very center of the room, engulfed in some kind of protective energy, was a brilliantly gleaming crystal that seemed to radiate light. It had seven points, and definitely gave off the appearance of a miniature star in crystal form.

"Incredible…" Magus said, for merely a moment allowing himself to get caught up in the otherworldly splendor of the place. Then, remembering his task, he quickly walked over and reached for the crystal. But the energy fields seared his hand, and he quickly retraced. He stifled the urge to dwell on his injury, noticing instead the strange phenomenon of the defensive field: that, while leaving a burning sensation on his hand, it had left his glove unscathed. Pulling the glove off, he looked at the burn mark on his hand and quickly realized that the nature of the energy field was to keep out anything living. "There must be a way to deactivate the field, so I won't risk harming the crystal."

Going over and examining what appeared to be the primary computer interface terminal, Magus quickly browsed through a long list of programs, most of them with names and functions that Magus had little chance of making sense of.

But one in particular stood out to him. Halfway down the list, a program labeled 'JOURNAL' caught his attention. Selecting it, Magus then selected 'READ', then 'FEB 12', the most recent entry. It was an audio file.

"February 12th, 2300 AD." It was a strong masculine voice,… presumably his father's. It sounded tired, yet held a tone to it indicative of someone who at one time had been royalty. The voice continued as Magus listened, spellbound. "My research seems to be going nowhere. I miss my daughter and step-son greatly,… but I know that there is no turning back. The powers of the Star Crystal, I realize now, dwarf in comparison to those of that fiend, Macbeth, and even if I did find a way to harness the crystal's power into a weapon, it would do me no good against either him or Lavos."

"I have been forced to come to the same conclusion about Lavos that I came to during my time in Zeal kingdom, that it is a parasitic beast controlled by some kind of power-hungry monster not unlike itself. From my studies of the three Lavos Spawn that inhabit this mountain, I have realized that I myself will never have the power to stop Lavos. In fact, I fear that no human will ever find a way to defeat Lavos; the level of quantum manipulation power simply isn't conceived naturally in mankind, and not even I with everything I know about the magic arts stand a chance."

"But I have not yet given up hope. No,… one day, perhaps my dreams will come to pass. If someone younger and stronger than I were to rise to the level of mastery I have achieved, they may bring humanity one step closer to defeating Lavos. My step-son, Janus, shows just such a level of promise. I can't explain it, not all of it, but somehow he seems to possess sheer energy that I've never before observed in humankind, even though it's deep within him and, at the moment, subdued and hidden. I still have yet to unravel all of the mystery of his origins and strange power, but the one conclusion I can draw for certain is that, given time, I believe he can mold his powers into any one of the four basic elements, or perhaps even achieve Prism or Solar."

"… Perhaps I'm just a foolish old man, rambling off about dreams that may truly be nothing more than dreams. But I think of Janus and Schala often because I'm so lonely,… and I suppose it's only natural that, with the Star Crystal complete, I would turn my mind towards the greatest mystery of my life: Janus's origins. Perhaps some day, through some turn of events, the truth will reveal itself. Until then,… I suppose I am left to ponder the unknown."

The readout on the screen indicated that the message had come to it's conclusion. Magus was silent for a long moment, thinking, digesting all that his step-father had said.

'Macbeth,' Magus thought to himself. 'He mentioned Macbeth. What does that mean? How could he know who Macbeth is??'

And, like his father before him, Magus too now also wondered silently at his origins. He had known since a young age that he was 'adopted', but only Schala had been open enough to tell him that the Earthbound Ones had found him nearly frozen to death in the snow, an abandoned infant with no known past. His condition, Schala had told him, had deteriorated so much that without his step-father using magic power to revitalize him from near-dead, he never would have survived.

But for the moment, riddling about his unknown past was a pointless gesture. At the bottom of the option menu was an option 'STAR CRYSTAL'. It yielded 'SCAN', 'TRANSFER POWER', and 'ENERGY FIELD'. Magus quickly selected ENERGY FIELD and was greeted with "password required to perform this function" from the computer's audio system.

Magus inputted 'Zeal', 'Nu', 'Schala', and 'Janus'. The fourth password did the trick, and Magus felt a slight appreciation somehow because of the reference. Three more options now presented themselves: 'MODIFY FIELD', 'ACTIVATE', and 'DEACTIVATE'. ACTIVATE was grayed out, to symbolize that the option was already in use. It wasn't a hard decision anyway.

With the energy fields gone, the crystal's true glow filled the chamber, bouncing white light off the blue-crystal floor and reflective ceiling to give the entire room a shimmering effect the likes of which Magus had never seen before. Walking over, he slowly reached for the crystal and, after reassuring himself that the protective fields were neutralized, grasped the crystal by one of it's elongated silvery points.

Maybe he was expecting some kind of surge of energy to go careening like an untamed lightning bolt through his body, or to be blown backwards by some incredible flash of power. But nothing felt different. The crystal still retained it's breathtaking shine, and other than feeling slightly curious and disappointed, Magus noticed no changes within himself either. Choosing to be rather safe than sorry, Magus carefully tucked the crystal away and left the lab.

What he didn't anticipate was what he'd find waiting for him in between the cave entrance and the Time Gate. Somewhere in the time he'd been down in the lab, a large crowd of futuristic soldiers carrying what looked like laser guns had gathered at the southern base of Death Peak, away from the cave entrance but directly between Magus and the Gate. And based on the weaponry and the robots they had backing them up, they didn't look too friendly.

"It's him! I saw him!" Shouted someone from towards the back of the crowd. "He's the magic user, the one who turned Death Peak black!!"

That, of course, was a reference to Magus's Dark Mist maneuver. As the rows of soldiers aimed their weapons on him, Magus took that to mean that magic users weren't welcome guests in this time period.

"Just look at him! He's even dressed like a wizard!" Someone else shouted.

"He must be the one." Someone else concluded. "C'mon, 'Merlin', admit it!"

Magus grunted and turned his head slightly to one side.

"Something tells me that you people don't like me very much." Magus stated. "Normally, I wouldn't mind staying to chat, but I've got travel arrangements that have to come first. Now kindly step aside and let me through."

"Not a chance, 'wizard'!" Shouted a man who appeared to be in charge of the soldiers and random robots. "Don't you know that it's **illegal** to use magic? Now either defend your innocence or surrender."

Magus laughed jeeringly.

"Guilty as charged." He laughed. "But I think I should warn you that I never surrender, and I don't take threats lightly." The second part of the statement was far more in a serious tone.

"Are you telling me you won't come quietly?" The commander barked. Magus nodded mockingly, much to the commander's unamusement. "Well then, we'll just have to take ya in by force!" He turned to his units. "All weapons on heavy stun! Fire at will!"

Magus easily blocked the barrage of various-colored lasers using a Magic Wall attack, sending the beams bouncing straight back at the soldiers and robots who fired them. This sent the small army into momentary disarray, and in the chaos Magus spotted an easy opening and flew straight down the middle of the troops, literally. Using his energy fields to speed him along like a living blur, he was quickly out of sight of the hostile military group within seconds.

'Illegal to use magic.' Magus scoffed. 'What idiots.'

"I've retrieved the Star Crys-"

Magus cut himself off mid-sentence. Just as he was stepping out of the pillar of light at the end of time he spotted two figures standing nearby the gurus, two figures that at first he didn't recognize.

His mind quickly took inventory of the entire situation, Magus pulling logic from the images before his eyes in such a manner that Sherlock Holmes might have been impressed by his deductions. The gurus, even though half-hidden by fog and a distance away, didn't seem threatened by the two newcomers; on a similar note, the two unknown persons didn't seem defensive or to have taken the gurus hostage. Neither person seemed to be armed, although odds were that they were magic users. That could mean either that these two figures weren't enemies,… or that an overly clever ambush had been set. Lightly gripping the handle of the concealed Lunar Cry, Magus headed slowly forwards to the small wooden gate, senses heightened by his warrior's instincts.

As Magus pushed the gate open, Melanchoir looked over at him. Magus could tell by the old man's demeanor that something had him worried, yet not immediately concerned. Magus took that as a sign that the two people were, at the least, not hostile.

Then the first shock hit him like a bolt out of the blue. As the girl turned to look in his direction, Magus quickly recognized her. Long, flowing blue hair. Deep, compassionate eyes. Long light-purple robe.

For half a second, Magus held his breath in disbelief.

"Magus," Melanchoir stated. "Allow me to introduce a pair of accidental guests that just dropped in. I believe you recognize your sister Schala."

It was Schala, without a doubt. Magus could tell that on first glance. But something was different about her. His sister had been around age 18 when they had first been separated by Lavos so long ago, but now, she looked at least several years older, more developed. Magus guessed that, minimally, the girl who stood before him was truly a woman in her early twenties.

"And this,…" Melanchoir began as Magus got his first look at Schala's companion.

He was no less a shock than Schala herself was. Long, flowing blue hair likened to an ocean breeze. His nose only slightly shorter, rounder, and flatter than Magus's. Deep red eyes that lacked the coldness, hardness, and bitter strength and power that blazed like a trapped flame in Magus's eyes, replaced with a strange gentleness and a quieter strength and power that was there nonetheless. Similar to Schala, he wore a long, powerfully-white robe and had silver-metal armlets on his wrists that were decorated with large rubies and small blue sapphires.

Magus couldn't believe his eyes. It was like looking into a mirror, and looking back across history all at the same time. Melanchoir continued his sentence.

"… this is Sir Janus of Zeal kingdom,… six years after our departure."


	5. The Children of Zeal

Someone once said that the universe holds even more mysteries than it does planets and stars __

Someone once said that the universe holds even more mysteries than it does planets and stars. In that sense, mystery is the essence of adventure, and thus, the only thing to totally fill the void of space.

Put simply, the universe is full of mystery. Literally.

Magus could hardly believe his eyes, much less the millions of thoughts rushing through his mind. Janus, an exact physical copy of Magus, stood right before his eyes, but the number of evident differences between them was staggering. The two time travel twins just stood there for several long, breathless moments, looking at each other.

It was an experience almost beyond description.

"… Oh my gosh…" Schala exclaimed, likewise caught up in the similarities between the two. Her gaze shifted from Magus to Janus, then back to Magus, to Janus, and back to Magus again. Then her eyes went wide with surprise as a memory flashed through her mind. "… Pr-Prophet? Is that you?"

"My my," Belthazar mused with a chuckle. "How the tides of time travel have come in. It's just like I told Melanchoir; there's a world of difference between them."

" . . . Are,… are you,… me?" Janus exclaimed. "Oh my gosh, what happened to me?"

That comment seemed to snap Magus's mind back to the present moment. Doing his best to swallow his astonishment, he took a deep breath, composed himself to his regular demeanor, and faced his duplicate with as much emotional control as he could gather.

"More like 'what didn't happen to you'." Magus stated confidently. He then turned to Schala. "Schala, you look older than I remember you. It's good to see you again."

"So it is you." Schala stated with slight relief at seeing Magus again. "When you and the gurus disappeared into the Gate, I never thought I'd see you again Prophet." She paused unsurely as she and Janus exchanged a meaningful glance. "But,… what does all of this mean?"

"We've explained to lady Schala and sir Janus about the End of Time and about the destruction of Lavos." Gaspar stated. "As well as the identity of my duplicate here. We were right about to tell them where you'd gone, but before we could you returned. I take it you have the Star Crystal?"

"Star Crystal?" Janus inquired.

"Yes, it's right here, although I don't feel any different after touching it." Magus stated, pulling out the dazzling crystal. Schala gasped slightly in amazement when she saw it.

"That's the most beautiful gem I've ever seen!" She exclaimed.

"Don't you remember it?" Melanchoir asked, taking the gem from Magus. He held it for Schala to see. "Your father made this and used it to give you your incredible powers, Ms. Schala."

"… I, I don't understand…" Schala stated.

Gaspar looked over at Magus. Magus nodded.

"I think it's time to put all of our cards on the table, Ms. Schala." Melanchoir replied.

Magus told them everything. About how, in his timeline, the Mammon Machine had summoned Lavos just like queen Zeal had planned. How the three gurus had been sent flying across the timeline, shortly before Magus himself had. It hurt Magus to say to his sister, but he told her and Janus how he'd been adopted by the Mystics, raised to be their leader in their war against humanity. Although he didn't say outright to Schala that he'd killed hundreds of people in the process, because he didn't want her to think of him as a murderer, he did tell her the truth. He told her how Glenn, Crono, and the others had come to his castle, putting a halt to his plans of the eve of his summoning Lavos, and how the resulting Gate had sent him back once again to Zeal where he had taken up the guise of a prophet. He held back very little of his story, because he couldn't find it in his heart to be untruthful to Schala, the one person he held as more important even than his own life. And so, he explained the time-twisted turn of events that had made him who he was, and had left Janus unscarred by Lavos's inbred evil.

But when he was done, Schala and Janus had a tale to tell as well. It seemed that, a few years after the failed attempt to use the Mammon Machine for immortality, queen Zeal had fallen victim to a fatal disease which, at the time, there was no cure for, leaving Schala to take her place and rule over Zeal kingdom. Barely a year later, Zealean scientists uncovered a cure for the fatal virus through a fusion of advanced-level healing magic and rare herbs being grown by a Zealean woman in secret. Unable to accept that a cure had come barely a year too late, Schala and Janus searched the Zealean libraries, looking for books by Schala's father that might hint at how time travel might be accomplished using a Gate. By this time, Janus's natural powers had emerged to the surface, Solar element by nature, and soon the Zealean siblings were following in their father's footsteps, reaching for levels of power that would allow them time traveling abilities.

But it seemed that their skills were slightly underdeveloped at the time they were first put into use. The instabilities in their time travel technique sent them, not merely a few years into Zeal kingdom's past, but to the End of Time.

"They're most fortunate that the instabilities didn't tear them apart." Belthazar noted. "All and all, though, I'd say things have turned out for the best, considering that they can both link directly from here to the time that they were aiming for."

"However,…" Old Man Gaspar interjected. "That's where our other problem comes in."

Old Man Gaspar explained to Magus about the changes in the timeline, and how they must be undone immediately to prevent Zeal kingdom's influence on the future.

"Crono and his friends' actions are quite securely set into the timeline." Gaspar explained. "Because they're all time travelers, they will forever live in the timeline that they have created,… at least unless they stop back here anytime soon. But that's besides the point. Lavos is no longer a threat, but we cannot risk all the changes in history caused by the continued existence of the Zeal islands. We must return to a stable timeline,-"

"If history is to change, let it change." Magus stated, turning his back to the elderly time-master. The expression in his features gave away just a hint of uneasiness. "What would you have me to do? Destroy the islands of Zeal?"

"Listen to me, Magus." Old Man Gaspar pleaded. "I've seen, in my mind, images of what the future of this world holds if the timeline isn't set right. Death, destruction, woe, and agony will cover the earth for centuries at a time. Is that really what you want?"

"What's the difference? You may think it's possible to right every wrong and make the world a perfect place through time travel, but I don't." Magus retorted, not turning to look at Old Man Gaspar.

Suddenly, Schala stepped directly in front of him. Her eyes met Magus's with an expression of both devotion and pleading.

"Please," She pleaded. " I know it's impossible to right every wrong, but we have a chance right now to save countless millions of lives. If for no one else, please, do it for me. If even a little of Janus lives in you still, you have to believe me." She looked aside for a moment. "I cannot stand by and be idle if I know I can help save a life, not after all I've been through in my life. If it comes down to it, Janus and I will do this alone, but I want you to know that, despite what other people might say, I won't judge you based on what you've done or who you've become. The choice is yours whether you're coming with us or not."

Magus was silent for a long, long moment as Schala's caring, understanding reprimand echoed in his mind.

At last, though, he nodded in agreement.

"… Only because you asked me to." He stated, looking at Schala. He then turned to look at Janus. "But if we're going to do this, we'll need a coordinated plan of action."

"We'll need to evacuate everyone from the islands before they can be destroyed, and then give my mother this medicine so she won't die." Schala stated.

"And the people will need a good reason to evacuate, and from someone they'll trust." Janus added.

Magus was silent for a long moment, contemplating potential plans of action. Then, visible even in his eyes, an ingenious plan came to him. He smirked.

"We'll need a second outfit, identical to mine, and another cloak like this one." Magus began, pulling out his prophet's cloak. "We'll need a plain long gray cloak too." He turned to Janus. "I assume you know how to use your powers in battle?"

"Yes,.. but why?"

"I'll explain later. Schala, your job will be to warn your younger self that the island will be under attack, then work with her to warn everyone on all the islands and evacuate as many people as possible. Since we're bound to run into Dalton and queen Zeal, we need to be prepared." Magus turned to the gurus. "I assume you four can show me how to use the Star Crystal's power to upgrade to Prism element?"

"Just what did you think you were doing, assisting the gurus and that insurrectionist?" Queen Zeal demanded. Schala, under guard, stood in the middle of the ocean palace throne room while her mother chastised her to no end. Queen Zeal paced angrily from one end of the room to the other. "Do you realize exactly what you have done?? By now the whole kingdom has heard of this treachery; what will they think of me for protecting you from the consequences that the law demands? You are a princess of the greatest nation to ever exist, and yet you find it necessary to have emotional entanglements with old fools and false prophets!"

"I was doing what I thought was right!" Schala retorted sharply. There were tears in her voice. "What has happened to you, mother?! Ever since the Mammon Machine was built-"

"Silence!"

"NO! I won't be silent any longer!" 

"Quiet!"

"Lavos has poisoned your soul!!!"

"What?!!"

"It's true!! All you ever think about anymore is immortality and Lavos, and now that the Mammon Machine no longer functions you're consumed by your disappointment and outrage and inability to do anything about it."

"How, how dare you!!"

"But it's true, isn't it! After father died, all you've thought about is Lavos."

"Your father didn't die; he left us."

"W-what?!"

"Yes, it's true. Your father was too old fashioned to understand the promise that Lavos held for us. So, for no other purpose than to spite me, he took all his research and time traveled off, never to be seen again."

"Then he did it for our own good, so you wouldn't use him to further your consuming addiction to Lavos's powers. He must have seen what was happening to you, how you'd changed-"

"I've heard **enough** from you, young lady! Guards, take her to her room and make sure it's secured. No one gets in and no one gets out."

As the Time Gate opened to reveal it's three travelers, the light from the vortex momentarily illuminated the entire cave entrance with blinding light. The three cloaked figures stepped out and the gateway closed behind them, and the arctic temperatures soon reasserted themselves as the most powerful nonliving force in the small cavern.

"Where's all the guards?" Magus wondered, once again donning his prophet's cloak.

"Gates are kinda confusing like that." Janus explained. He was now wearing an outfit identical to Magus's, cloak, cape, and all. "Like time travelers, they exist only in the present moment, but in theory also exist and function at any point in history in which they're stable. But we can only come out of a Gate at it's 'present moment'."

"I can see someone's done his research." Magus stated.

"I don't understand why I have to wear this." Schala stated, wearing the long gray cloak, hood pulled back. "How does this fit in with the plan?"

"You'll understand soon enough. For now, just focus on finding your younger self and everything should go according to plan. You've got the medicine?"

Schala pulled out a small vial of deep, sparkling blue liquid from the folds of her robe, which she was wearing underneath the gray cloak.

"Right here."

"Good. Make sure it stays safe until I say to give it to your mother. Janus, you're with me." Magus stated, the group quickly making it's way out of the cave.

"I can not believe I'm wearing this." Janus muttered.

"Get over it." Magus returned sharply without shifting his gaze.


End file.
